It is well known to use visual light signals on law enforcement vehicles, emergency vehicles, tow trucks and the like for increasing the visibility of these vehicles to motorists and pedestrians in emergency and traffic control situations. For example, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or factory lights on the front and rear of certain law enforcement and emergency vehicles (installed by the vehicle manufacturer) may be programmed to display a number of different emergency signals in a variety of different patterns and colors, i.e., intermittent flashing at various time intervals.
Alternatively, it is also well known to install “after-market” lighting systems such as light bars to the vehicle to provide different emergency signals and color patterns. Light bars may be mounted to the exterior roof or top of the emergency or law enforcement vehicles and/or within the interior of these vehicles such that they are visible through the front, side or rear windows. For instance, a representative light bar is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,325,029, entitled “Multiple Color Multi-Functional Light Bar,” issued Dec. 4, 2012. The disclosure of this U.S. patent is incorporated by reference herein.
Generally, light bars may be illuminated by utilizing light sources, such as a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or halogen lamps to produce different light signals. These light signals may include different colors and/or illumination patterns. The variety of light signals, colors and patterns are useful for generating different visual displays depending on the particular traffic control or emergency situation. As a result, motorists or pedestrians approaching these vehicles may easily view the light display and understand the particular traffic control or emergency situation based upon the signal, color or pattern being displayed.
It is well known that most new vehicles are controlled by a series of body control modules (BCM's) linked to a controller area network (“CAN”) electrical or BUS system. CAN electrical systems began to appear in most new vehicles in the early 2000s and now virtually all passenger vehicles sold in the United States are equipped with CAN electrical systems. The CAN electrical system allows various modules and systems within the vehicle to share data and interact. In more detail, the CAN system is a communication standard that allows the various modules and computers in a vehicle to communicate with one another via a common data bus circuit in the wiring system. Namely, the powertrain control module (PCM), anti-lock brake system, electronic steering and suspension, automatic climate control system, keyless entry system, lighting control modules and other systems are interconnected electronically through the CAN system. In turn, the CAN system is linked to a central computer or main BCM within the vehicle.
The most common way to connect a light bar or other after-market illumination system to a vehicle or to program the existing lighting system installed by the OEM vehicle manufacture to display emergency signals is to connect with the harness emanating from one of the individual BCM's, which typically requires manipulation of the wires from the harness, which is not only time-consuming but risks damage to the individual BCM's. For example, this can lead to problems with the specific module and may even shut down the main BCM for the vehicle. As a result, the BCM must be replaced, which is expensive and time-consuming.
If the after-market illumination system is not connected properly, a number of issues may arise, such as phantom lights may appear, the vehicle returns to its factory default settings, the air conditioning, radio and other warning lights may appear. Furthermore, the emergency lighting may not work with the exterior lighting of vehicle, i.e., the emergency vehicle lighting will not function at night when the vehicle's headlights are on or the brake or turn signals lighting are not visible if the emergency lighting is activated, which is clearly problematic.
In order to avoid problems associated with connecting with the OEM harness/factory wires emanating from one of the individual BCM's while installing or programming aftermarket lighting equipment to the vehicle, it is possible to run separate power from the battery or power distribution block to each piece of equipment that needs to be installed. However, this is a tedious process, which requires connecting each piece of additional equipment to the battery or power distribution block. Notwithstanding the time-consuming nature of this process, it does not allow one to tap into power anywhere in the OEM harness, such as headlights or taillights without creating similar problems to the ones mentioned above. Moreover, in certain manufacturer's model vehicles, it not possible to operate a flashing sequence for the headlights while holding the high beam shutters open or disengage the flashing sequence when the driver applies the brakes or turn signals.
Accordingly, there is a need for a flasher vehicle interface module that operates factory lighting systems installed by the OEM as well auxiliary after-market lighting systems. Namely, the flasher vehicle interface module should be isolated from (or bypass) the primary CAN electrical system for the vehicle as well as any individual BCM's to allow the after-market emergency flash lighting systems to easily connect to the vehicle and to operate in an efficient manner without impacting other standard lighting and other electrical operating systems of the vehicle. Furthermore, the flasher vehicle interface module should allow the high beam shutters to be held open so the OEM headlights may be flashed in high beam as well as having an override function that disengages the flashing sequence when the driver applies the brakes or turn signals.